What is behind the Know You Canvas?

byTim Mart

At Know You More we prepare the young workforce for their early career and beyond. We’ve learned, so much about this age group and how to develop them at this stage in their lives. Equally, we wanted to design a development framework that could underpin a consistent and impactful approach to the coaching that Know You More delivers.

Our design would be influenced by being able to answer 3 questions:

What are the development gaps that young adults believe exist on leaving education?

What are the gaps that universities and businesses see in their young population?

What are the skills that are critical during the early part of your career and lay the foundation for your working future?

We could already answer number 1 through the extensive conversations we’d had with young adults. From student to graduate to first time leader, they’d influence its design at every stage.

To answer number 2 & 3 we would tap into the rich bank of research that we had at our disposal on the demands and expectations of millennials and generation X & Y.

These assumptions were taken to those at the opposite side of this fence. The employers, graduate recruiters, apprenticeship coordinators, student support services and learning and development departments throughout a range of sectors.

From pharmaceutical giant to local village local sea farmers, we took it upon ourselves to both validate and surgically pinpoint the self-development areas that would help accelerate and release the potential of young adults. Those that employers, not only expect and want to see but are crying out for as they develop the future of their business.

Mind the gap…

This may not be a surprise but the development gap for employers is not a technical one. To realise the potential of young talent it is in the non-technical or ‘human skills’ where growth needed to be focused. The most common areas highlighted by both the young workforce and their employers included:

It was from here that the Know You Canvas and Diagnostic tool were born.

The Know You Canvas is made up of 7 areas of self-development:

Know Why

Making the connections between purpose and values. Creating awareness of organisational fit and helping an individual explore how they connect with the values of an organisation. Cultivating an awareness of meaning and purpose.

Know Where

Exploring your career and life’s journey. Creating a compelling vision for the future and a road-map to get there. Taking charge of future career direction.

Know How

Developing grit, stickability and patience. Growing the human skills combining the head and the heart (ie decision making). Establishing proactivity in self-directed development.

Growing the skill of intuition/ hunch. Understanding how to transition into a new role/ career and developing skill to refocus and reprioritise.

Know What

What is ‘my story’ so far and how can that positively influence my future. How to achieve and self-regulate. How to measure self-performance and use it as a tool for further development.

It is supported by a diagnostic, which when introduced at the start of our coaching experience, creates a powerful self-learning structure.

How is it applied?

The Know You Canvas and Diagnostic tool are not a one size fits all approach to development. These areas will not only have a different meaning within different organisations, they will almost certainly have a different context with each member of your team. We can also tailor the elements of the canvas to fit cleanly with your own competency and behavioural frameworks.

In the design phase of our partnership, we work together to clearly identify and outline the elements of the Know You Canvas that you wish to focus on. From here, we will propose the resources and tools that will achieve the desired development outcome. This collaborative approach will lay the foundations for the coaching experience and also the evaluation and measurement process that complements it.

What is the Know You diagnostic tool?

Often in the form of a questionnaire, the diagnostic tool will be a product of our design conversations. It is normal for it to be completed by each member of your team before commencing their development programmes. Whether it be an individual or a team, the answers to the questionnaire provide:

A focus or context to the coaching conversation.

Baseline evaluation data to kick-start the measurement process.

What are resources and tools?

As well as the Know You diagnostic tool, there may be other models or resources that can be built into the coaching programme. These are commonly applied by the coach to help raise awareness and focus on the selected development areas. These might include, but will not be limited to; developing skill and sensitivity with communication, developing self-awareness, self-management and developing greater impact and developing the power of resilience.

Know You Canvas in Practice

The Know You Canvas took a long time to develop, but for us, it was critical that we got this right. It’s the approach that’s at the heart of what we do and who we are. But, like any approach, framework or model, the real proof only comes when it’s applied. Thankfully for us, the Know You Canvas works when applied. We’ve now validated it on over 400 coaching programmes. That validation has given the whole Know You More team a lot of confidence.

Want to know more?

If you’d like to know more about our Know More canvas or if it’s sparked any questions, please get in touch.